


The Princess and the Blacksmith

by mcschnuggles



Series: Schnugg's Regressuary 2021 [7]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Royalty, CGRE - Caregiver/Age Regressor, Caregiver!Barry, Gen, Regressing!Lup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29269143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcschnuggles/pseuds/mcschnuggles
Summary: Princess Lup has a knack for sneaking away from her attendants when she needs to. Not that Barry would know anything about that.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans & Lup
Series: Schnugg's Regressuary 2021 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138382
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15
Collections: Regressuary, Regressuary 2021





	The Princess and the Blacksmith

For Barry, trouble comes in two specific forms.

The first is in adventurers. Usually they’re carrying broken shields, toting dulled swords at their hips, and grinning as if they can’t see anything wrong with either.

It’s a blacksmith’s _job_ to fix our gear, they claim. We’re just making sure they stay in business!

Never mind that there are a hundred other different, more valuable ways he could be spending his time, but yes, sure, he’d be more than happy to fix up another janky sword for half of what a good-looking piece of jewelry would go for.

The second way trouble comes is in the shape of Princess Lup of Faerhun.

He doesn’t understand why Lup picked him as her favorite person. Some days, he wasn’t even sure how she found him. While his shop isn’t exactly hidden, it’s no place that a princess should be poking around.

Despite her attempts to blend in, Lup can’t help but stand out. The peasant clothes she’s wearing were either tailored specifically for her or borrowed from one of her servants, so they lack the fine layer of grime that most commoners sport.

Even beneath the hood, the cloak pulled tight around her shoulders, bits of her fine blonde hair poke out, framing her face and neck. Not an identifying mark on its own, but the way her hair is painstakingly styled, curled into fine ringlets, is a dead giveaway for her high stature.

“You’re not supposed to be here.” Barry points out as she approaches his shop. It’s no use to point out to her, but it always feels like something worth saying.

“Yup!”

Barry glances around. Usually when Lup makes her journeys out here, there’s an entourage of poorly disguised nobles in tow. Either pretending to look at the jewelry or inquiring about sword repairs, they fit in worse than Lup does. “Where are your attendants?”

“I gave them the day off!” Lup says brightly. She’s still beaming at him, as if just being here with him is enough to make her day.

Barry knows good and well that ladies in waiting don’t get the day off.

She falters under his scrutiny. “ _Well_ , I may have bribed the minstrel who does a good impression of me to pretend she’s me sick in bed with a fever.”

“You do realize those girls are going to get in trouble if you’re found out.” Barry chides. Probably not in his place to be telling a princess how to act, but she seems to like that kind of banter between them.

“Oh, boo, she’s getting paid to be fussed over.” Lup dismisses his concerns with a wave of her hand.

Barry grins despite himself. Ruthless as the queen can be, she’s usually too busy to interfere in most matters. So anything that might normally call for an execution—such as a lapse in duties that could potentially put the princess in danger—could be easily avoided with a lot of begging on Lup’s part. “So why are you here then?”

“’Cuz I wanted to see you!” Lup says with a stomp of her foot, all but confirming his suspicions that she’d left her chambers childminded.

“Easy now, I’m right here.” He checks the shop to make sure no one is watching from the store windows and puts a hand on her shoulder. “You want another sword?”

Lup immediately perks up and beams, all her pouting forgotten. “A magic sword? Taako wants a magic sword!”

“Well then, we’ll just have to make him one, won’t we?” Barry has personally never met the crown prince, who hasn’t left the castle in years, but he can’t help but wonder if Taako has a childminded side as well.

It’s too dangerous to let Lup near any of the equipment, so he takes a pre-made sword. Not that he doesn’t trust her; she’s been around this equipment enough times to smelt a sword better than any of his apprentices, but if she were to get hurt… well, he can’t take that chance. The sword just needs a little polish on the blade, as well as some leather for the grip, then it should be good to go.

“So what’s the magic for?” Barry asks conversationally. He wonders if she actually believes in the new enchantment fad or if this is just her childminded side coming out to play.

“It’s for Koko,” she explains, and Barry can only guess she’s talking about her brother.

Barry sets the sword on his work table, a large wooden table in the back room littered with all sorts of tools, and scoops Lup up to put her right beside it.

Especially when she’s childminded, she likes the extra height of being able to sit on the table. Barry guesses she doesn’t get much of a chance to do so in the palace.

Lup immediately sets to work, knowing exactly what needs to be done without being told. Honestly, Barry thinks it’s a little bit of a lost opportunity that she couldn’t do this kind of work professionally. She really has a knack for it.

“Is that so?” Barry asks. He sits in the chair beside her, close enough to hold her hand while she works. Sometimes she likes that kind of contact, other times she doesn’t, but always she wants the _option._ “So what kind of magic are we giving it? Good dreams magic? Leave-me-alone magic?”

Lup’s enthusiasm dims. “To help him leave his room.”

Barry sits up a little straighter. “Is he okay?” It turns his stomach to know that he knows more about the prince than anyone else outside the palace, and all through a few short sentences.

Lup hesitates, and Barry fears he’s done something wrong by asking. He knows just how valuable information is. That little tidbit alone could cover his food for a month, but the last thing he’d ever do is trade Lup’s trust for money. Still, it makes sense that Lup would be wary of him.

“He won’t because he’s scared, and he only lets me in,” Lup says finally. “I think everyone else has given up on him.”

Her fingers fidget against the leather, twisting it this way and that. And while her fingers are occupied, her teeth aren’t, and they tear into her bottom lip. For the first time, Barry notices the dried blood there.

“They all think I’m gonna be the queen no matter what, and that sucks because I don’t wanna!” Lup pouts. “It’s all more rules and more being watched and more having the entire country’s fate on my shoulders.”

“I’m sorry,” Barry says, for lack of anything else to say.

Lup’s frown deepens. “When Koko gets better, we should run away together. You can be the blacksmith in another city and I can help you.” There’s a note of hopefulness in her voice, but it’s drowned out by the look of absolute misery on her face, like the situation is hopeless and she’s drowning in it. “But I gotta make Koko better first.”

“What do we have to do to make him better?” If he had to, Barry would fight any enemy, steal any precious object, or sacrifice anything to take this weight of Lup’s shoulders. Sure, the idea of running away together sounds fun, but he knows it’s impossible. He just wants her to be happy—she was so _happy_ last time she dropped in.

Lup scrutinizes him out of the corner of her eye. Underneath the vulnerability is an edge of suspicion. Childminded, yes, but not foolish. “Do you promise not to tell anyone?”

“Yes. Of course.” He can only hope his face translates just how much he means that.

Lup lowers her head, resuming her work on the sword grip. “The night that the king died. It was because someone poisoned the food. We were entertaining diplomats from the Underdark, and someone wanted to make sure the negotiations failed. But Taako was helping the staff. He thought it’d be a sign of goodwill. And now there are half a dozen people dead.”

Barry listens with bated breath. He never knew the prince liked to cook, or anything about the poisoning really. News of a political disaster managed to reach his part of the city, but anything beyond that was a mystery. What an awful thing to have to go through.

“That’s awful, but it’s not his fault.”

“But he still thinks he could’ve done something to stop it,” Lup answers. Her eyes are heavy-lidded, tears clumping on her lashes. “That’s why he needs a spell to make him brave. So he can come out and see that it’s not his fault.”

“Lup…” It’s one of the dumbest things he could do, but he stands and opens his arms. He’s not quite brave enough to scoop her into a hug himself, not when she hasn’t said it was okay beforehand, but she readily meets him halfway.

She clings to his neck, squeezing the breath right out of him. It’s now that he realizes she’s much stronger than she looks, but he refuses to let himself flinch back. The fact that she so readily accepted a hug only proves how much she needs affection, and he won’t take that from her. Not when she’s hurting. Not when she’s childminded.

“’m sorry,” Lup whimpers. She pulls away and wipes the tears catching in the corners of her eyes. “I didn’t mean to… I shouldn’t have…”

Barry shushes her, thumbing the stray hairs sticking to her cheek. “You don’t have to apologize. Now, let’s see if we can get some magic in this sword, yeah?”

And despite herself, she smiles. “Yeah.” 

Barry has to think fast to put together a magic ritual that makes people brave, but it has enough steps for Lup to enjoy herself. Clasp your hands over your chest, hop three times, and whisper your wish into the sword, and it should work just fine.

Lup doesn’t have much energy in her after that. Usually she’s an energetic thing, and it’s hard for Barry to keep her from bouncing off the walls, but today, she seems content to curl up with her head in his lap and doze. He can only imagine how tiring her life must be.

When the front door bell chimes, Barry’s brain immediately jumps to panic mode. It’s not like he wants to leave Lup alone, but he doesn’t have a choice. Most commoners would spot her as a royal at first glance, and if any guards had come looking for her, it was twice as worse.

Oh God, what if the guards were coming for her? He doesn’t think any amount of talking it out would be able to stop them from imprisoning him—at the least.

But before Barry has time to do anything, the door to the back room pushes open, and he finds himself being glared at by one of Lup’s ladies in waiting.

“Your Highness.” The lady in waiting is one of the bolder ones. Her eyes are hard, focused, as she regards the princess.

“Aw man, found out already?” With a sigh, Lup sits up. It’s near instinct that has her grabbing the sword, but she puts it down just as quickly. They both know she can’t keep it. It’s dangerous to have evidence of this visit, especially when it would lead right to the person she was risking her own safety to see. “Come on, tell me you were fooled at least a little bit!”

While she looks far from impressed, Killian nods once. “Come. Before anyone else notices.”

“Okay.” Lup stands and smooths out the front of her skirt, but she hesitates by the door. “Thank you for today. It means a lot.”

“Uh, anything for my kingdom,” Barry says, because he thinks that sounds like something he should say while a lady in waiting is glaring him down.

Lup nods, and in that second, he gets a flash of the regal, refined princess the rest of the kingdom sees her for. “Until we meet again, blacksmith.”

**Author's Note:**

> mcschnuggles.tumblr.com


End file.
